Metzeler Automotive Profile Systems

Description:

Metzeler is an ISO 14000 certified company, thus
striving for continual improvement in reducing solid, liquid and gaseous waste, as well as reducing electrical usage.

P2 Application:

Cardboard Recycling- All the extrusion lines use a wire of some type. Each roll of wire has a cardboard spindle in the middle and many rolls also contain a piece of cardboard as covering for shipping. At least one spindle, weighing about seven pounds, is generated for each line run. Large boxes were set up near the lines to collect the cardboard for recycling, diverting 21,900 pounds of cardboard a year from the landfill, saving $585 annually, and earning $547 from the recycler.

Five-gallon bucket recycling -
Many of the extrusion lines apply a water-based
coating on some of the parts. Nearly 3,000 waste
buckets per year are generated from this process and recycling the empty buckets will divert nearly 9,000 pounds of plastic from the landfill per year, saving $240.

Metal -
Steel and aluminum bands, used on some of the extrusion lines and by the maintenance and prototyping shops, are now collected in bins. An estimated 9,400 pounds of scrap steel and aluminum and 1,800 pounds of copper will be
saved yearly. Metzeler should receive approximately $4,440 per year in revenue from these materials if the metals are adequately segregated.

Air leak detection -
All of the extrusion lines use compressed air in the manufacturing process. By means of an ultrasonic leak detector, loose connections and holes in the compressed air lines were identified. Repairing the leaks and holes will save the company an estimated $19,000 a year.

Details of Reductions

21,900.0 - Pounds of
cardboard waste

9,000.0 - Pounds of
plastic

1,800.0 - Pounds of
metal

1,702,282.0 - KwH of
electricity usage

Additional Information :

Metzeler is an international company with five plants throughout the United States. Metzeler
totaled over 900 million dollars in sales last year and supplies different parts worldwide to more than 50 brands of cars. The Keokuk site produces rubber stripping for automotive seals.